Roof hips and ridges present special challenges for the roofing professional. Particularly challenging are applications using synthetic shingles, e.g., shingles constructed from plastic resins. These shingles may be thicker than more traditional shingle materials, such as shingles constructed from metal or bitumen compounds. Furthermore, such synthetic shingles may have a substantially open underside that would be exposed if the shingle were cut and that would be undesirable if visible. In addition, such shingles may have an upper portion that is not intended to be visible, but that may be difficult to obscure with an adjacent shingle in certain ridge or hip applications.
One method of ridge or hip installation that can be successful in some instances is to lay a double course of shingles along the center point of the ridge or hip. Although this installation method can produce an aesthetically pleasing result, it can be time consuming to achieve.
Thus, a need exists for a hip and ridge shingle, suitable for use with shingles constructed from synthetic materials, that (1) is easier to install than traditional hip and ridge shingles, (2) provides an aesthetically-pleasing result, and (3) otherwise overcomes the deficiencies of prior art hip and ridge shingles and methods of installing them.
The terms “first,” “second,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.
The terms “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.